You can get about the same temperament from a colony of Africanized out of Texas. The Germans may be just a little meaner, but it will be close. :shock:

I have one outyard that gets a little blacker and meaner with each supercedure, but I have no idea where the drones are coming from.

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"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

I do not believe there is such a thing anymore. Based on the many years of Italians flooding the environment, the turn over in genetics by the spread of swarms and the total number of beekeepers, and the almost complete elimination of ferals when v-mites were introduced, I think throwing around "German black bees" borders on urban legend and pipe dreams.

The increased use of NWC and carni's in general over the years, has puts many black bees out there.

If you drew on a map, a 10 mile circle around the location of every beekeeper, every apiary, there are few places that some magical population of German black bees could of existed and maintain a genetic line, for what would be required for having this discussion. It just does not happen that way.

Everytime a beekeeper gets a black queen, or a hot hive, imaginations of some long lost line of German black bees keeps popping up. Truth is, many, many beekeepers changed over the years prior to the v-mites decimation, and the black bees days were numbered. Not because of being wiped out, but by being watered down by the millions of colonies that were being maintained by beekeepers in the past 50 years. Then if you factor in the repopulation of the ferals in the past 10 years with swarms from managed colonies, none of them would be German black bees of today.

If there were German black bees around today, would you not think ONE researcher would do some testing and confirm that?

I've got some rather dark queens in my operation. If it would make anyone feel good, the next time I have a hot one, I'll set it aside and label it "German Black", and you can get it.... :-D

"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

Probably not. At least not pure. Beekeepers there, have imported and spread other bees around over the years just like us. And they have used Italians for years in commercial operations. Basically, they chose a better breed for honey production over the local stock, before many problems were introduced.

Malcolm Sanford has some ideas of locating and isolating the remaining pockets of pure or "the purist" of what we have left, for many good ideas, but lacks global commitment and funding.

I seem to remember reading about some beeks in the UK trying to maintain/restore or something like that the management of APis m.m. but I'll have to search around to see if I can relocate the page. Even if they are I would think the "purity" of such bees would be in question for the reason Bjorn already mentioned. That being said I wouldn't mind playing with some if I found them ;)

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I'm in NH and Northern Mass, Hampshire & Frankline Counties, and I have 2 hives to German Black Bees, 2 Italian, 2 Russian and the rest of the 41 are BuckFast. The black bees are about as "pissy" as the Russians on a normal day, infact most days I'd rather work them instead od the Russians.

if you make up a nuc, the queen will have to mate. she will mate with drones. the likelihood that these drones will be german is very low. the offspring from this queen will be half german (assuming she IS full german) the supercedure queen that your hive will get eventually will be 1/4 german, then 1/8. this is what is meant by the watering down process. To keep the bees pure german, they would need to be bred AI or in a remote mating yard with other pure germans. There are just not enough around anymore to keep them from getting inbred.

bjorn, i guess you dont know the inacessibility of some areas of the south, also there are some areas where there are mighty few bee keepers. they might not be pure but mighty close to it. i am no expert or custodian of all knowledge; but i have some little black bees and they have an attitude.look at a population map of pa then one of east central Ms. there has been no comercial bee keeper in our area in 30 yrs an as i understand some species genetics they regress towards the dominant genes; like hybrid bream in 4 years they will be green sun perch.

I bought 15 hives of German blacks from a widow in Northern Md. Advertised this way in ad. when speaking to her she told me that her husband would only keep blacks. because of their ability to make perfect white comb for comb honey production. which is all they did for farmer market sales. after two years I re queened all. many of time I would be working on one hive and the next two hives were allready boiling out the front of their hive. To hot for me white comb or not.

bjorn, i guess you dont know the inacessibility of some areas of the south, also there are some areas where there are mighty few bee keepers. they might not be pure but mighty close to it. i am no expert or custodian of all knowledge; but i have some little black bees and they have an attitude.look at a population map of pa then one of east central Ms. there has been no comercial bee keeper in our area in 30 yrs an as i understand some species genetics they regress towards the dominant genes; like hybrid bream in 4 years they will be green sun perch.

You guessing about what I know, is about like my guessing what you know. Pure nonsense.

I do know as far as I can tell, that nobody in 25 years or longer has sold, bred, or propagated German black bees. And it's not like it's impossible to genetically test for such things. So why hasn't one researcher, one breeder, one beekeeper in 25 years tested for German black bee genetics?

Don't dig up one circumstance of some deep swamp genetic line, and claim that you just happen to have them. I've heard that story in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Arkansas, and about 20 other states over the years. You would think with all the supposed magical powers of these feral survival colonies, the stories of 20 year colonies in some tree, and whatever else the stories are told, that one person could stand up and foot the bill to have some bees tested. But nobody is willing to take that chance on bursting their little own fantasy bee hive of dark bees that are labeled due to color or having some attitude.

Three things hold true but are continued to be perpetuated again and again...

1) Nobody has proven some long lost isolated gentic line of German black bees.

2) There are no mite resistant bees on the market, regardless of how many market their bees as such.

3) Putting your hives on a particular comb or in a particular hive, does not make your bees able to deal with every problem known to exist.

Yes, wouldn't it be nice to have all three of the above comment 100% true. But do not drink the Kool-aid. Save that for being sucked in by the next politician. ;)

2) Your assertion that there aren’t mite resistant bees is wrong and flies in the face of many respected studies. I know of several bee keepers that haven't treated for years here in Oregon and Washington. The term is Mite Sensitive Hygene.

2) Your assertion that there aren't mite resistant bees is wrong and flies in the face of many respected studies. I know of several bee keepers that haven't treated for years here in Oregon and Washington. The term is Mite Sensitive Hygene.

Well then, lets see these mite resistant bees and the studies. Lets see bees, regardless of where you put them, regardless of what they are placed on, and regardless of the type beekeeping you choose....that these bees are mite resistant. If mite resistant, it would not matter as to what type comb, or hive, etc.

Your second point just confirms my first point. If NOT for putting bees on unnatural small cell comb, your bees would not even be as mite resistant as one could suggest. Perhaps putting them on smallcell helps, but that is a mechanical manipulation of the bees, which adds to the lowering of mites. Just as drone comb removal or dusting with sugar. Why does placing bees on unnatural small cell comb allow one to suggest that bees are mite resistant?

Now if you want to discuss keeping bees in manners that allow bee to survive at a higher rate, that is another story. But if the bees unto themselves are truly mite resistant, then they should be able to survive by themselves without mechanical manipulation, or anything beyond "natural". And forcing bees on smallcell is not natural.

As for your studies, I am not aware of one study that has taken bees from ANY breeder, who claims mite resistance, and followed the colonies left alone for a period of time to see if they can handle mites by themselves.

Yes, bees are more hygienic than they were ten years ago. But I am not in agreement we have bees able to deal with mites by themselves, but for the fact of beekeeper intervention.

BTW....Mite Sensitive Hygene....where does that translate into mite resistant bees?

I've seen many suggestive advertising and marketing playing with the words like hygienic, mite resistant, and other descriptive fluff. I have yet to see one breeder state "Buy my bees and you will never have to worry about mites again!".

Show me the studies showing who has mite resistant bees, and show me breeders making such claims.

The closest I have seen is an outfit down in Texas that speaks of their own success. But like many breeders, nuc producers and queen producers, the nature of what they do within their own programs allows them to go chemical free. You pull enough queens and make enough splits, and anyone can suppress mites through the year.

Hey wait a minute! That is what I do. I don't treat. I pull almost all my queens, and make splits all summer. Highest mite count in the past three years by state inspectors was 2! But do I market "Mite resistant" bees...No! Why...because many things go into having bees deal with mites. Bees don't do it themselves. At least not yet.

And before someone jumps in with "I know a beekeeper who has not treated for 6 years and the colony is still alive"...and other such comments, I'll agree I have a few of those hives also. Most beekeepers have that wonder hive that for some reason seems to handle things. And who knows what goes into making that hive survive when other died. Raise me a thousand queens off one of those claimed mite resistant hives, put a guarantee behind it, and call me this weekend. You give back the money for everyone that dies of mites. I'll be happy to place an order.

In the meantime, find those studies, and let me know who claims to have mite resistant bees and will be willing to back it up..... ;)